Bargain-Priced Torchlight Is One Addictive Diablo Clone

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Bargain-Priced Torchlight Is One Addictive Diablo Clone

If you ever find yourself desperately trying to stay awake to avoid Freddy Kreuger, just play Runic's new inexpensive hack-and-slash RPG Torchlight.

I spent way too much time playing it last night. Initially, I only intended to play the game enough to offer some hands-on impressions. I'd explore a dungeon, sift through some loot and call it a night. That I did. But later, against my better judgment, I re-booted Torchlight. And there went my evening.

The $20 Torchlight is the ultimate single-player Diablolike experience. There's very little to get in your way between launching the game and starting your dungeon crawl.

In my fifth or sixth time retracing the opening moments of Borderlands I had to sit through a handful of unskippable (and quickly interminable) scripted sequences and cut scenes. Torchlight isn't padded with such fodder. Moments with dialogue are brief and easy to sidle around. This is a good thing because the game's voice acting may be its weakest link.

It took me only a moment or two to pick up the first couple of quests in the town of Torchlight, and then I was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing: scouring infested mines with my Vanquisher and looking for a nice musket or set of pistols to replace my starting bow.

Hours later, I found myself outfitted in rare goods – a nifty orange sash wrapped around my waist, dual pistols in my hands. One gun glowed a sickly green and poisoned my enemies. Another, thanks to a gem I'd slid into its socket, stole health from the enemies I shot.

There was little to slow my progress. If my bags filled up with loot, I could send my pet back to town to sell the junk I didn't want. Even a game crash (which I'll blame on my poorly maintained gaming laptop) didn't feel like a disaster. I found my progress saved at the doorway to the dungeon floor I was exploring.

Torchlight isn't terribly original. And as of now it's a totally solitary experience. But none of that will cross my mind tonight at 1:30 A.M. It'll be all about the next floor, the next boss and the next drop.